1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electronic safety markings. In particular, the invention is directed to a new and improved method and system for the application of a safety marking in an electric or electronic form for the marking of objects and devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Safety marking is conventionally employed for the marking of objects, devices and information in order to protect them against theft and misuse. Such safety markings may consist of the owner's social security number or name, or another piece or item of identifying information, that is engraved on or otherwise physically (and often nonremovably) affixed to an article to identify the owner of the article. However, this type of marking is difficult and/or impractical to implement since an engraving or corresponding physical marking procedure may damage the device to be marked and the resulting marking often has a noticeably unaesthetic effect on the appearance of the article.
A safety marking may also be based on biometric data, such for example as the DNA, fingerprint, or data obtained from the eye, in which case the person's identity can be more reliably ascertained. On the other hand, cloned individuals have identical DNA but different fingerprints. The accuracy of identification can therefore be further improved by combining different, independent identifying factors. The DNA of a human being can be formed in 244 (i.e. about 1.76×1013) different ways, and the number of inhabitants on the earth is on the order of about 1010. Accordingly, by combining the individual's DNA with his or her independent fingerprint data and, by way of example, the PIN code used in the individual's mobile communication device, the number of different, unique combinations is increased to about 1029.
At present, objects can also be marked with an electric or electronic safety marking, based on the idea of marking objects with a small coded safety chip which contains marking data that can only be read using special reading apparatus. A system of this nature is based on transponder technology that is used in conjunction with almost invisible chips. The chips are generally passive and therefore cannot be re-programmed, as a consequence of which they cannot be forged and are relatively insensitive to electromagnetic radiation. To apply such an electronic safety marking to an article or object, the customer purchases the safety marking from an authorized dealer, who installs the microchip in the object to be marked. The safety marking is additionally registered, using a register card, in a database that is maintained by a trusted third party.
When a stolen object that has been provided with such a safety marking is found, the information contained in the chip is read using a special reading apparatus. The so-determined information is then compared with the data stored in the third party database to identify the correct or rightful owner of the object. Such an arrangement, however, requires that a special registration database be maintained and consulted and is therefore difficult to implement and use. Moreover, the reading apparatus or the information read thereby is subject to modification or manipulation prior to the database query or comparison. As a consequence, that prior art system cannot be fully relied upon.